Category: Theology 101
Communicable Attributes
F. Sovereignty.
“My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure.”
Kings and lords have authority. They give orders to their servants (everyone who is not king) who have the duty of carrying out the regal commands. When they speak, people obey or suffer the just consequences for their insolence. Kingly titles include Your Majesty, My Lord, Sire, Your Excellency and others, each of which ascribes sovereign authority to its object. God is the King of all kings, and Lord of all lords. He is the Most High King, the Sovereign One. God’s monarchy is not limited to this land or that, rather His dominion extends over all creation, in heaven and earth. God orders the wind to blow and it blows; He commands the sun to shine and it beams in resplendent glory. God “works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11). We notice that this does not say that God works some things after the counsel of His will. Jesus affirmed that an insignificant sparrow cannot die unless God ordains it. Even my typing on this computer in my study is subject to the sovereign will of the Lord God, not to mention: earthly kings, rain, technology, Satan, stock markets, gravitational pull, cancer, comets and Britney Spears (which, by the way, can be rearranged to spell Presbyterians). Everything is in subjection to God.
Most Christians are quick to exclaim that God is sovereign, but are less quick to admit that God is in control of catastrophic events. God is in charge of our getting a new and better job, but surely He is not involved in the tornado or the miscarriage. For these evils, we tend to place the wheel in the hands of the devil, or worse, chance. But to do so is an offense against God’s lordship. For He says to Moses, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?” (Ex. 4:11 NASB). Certainly, God is not guilty of doing anything that is evil. And of equal certainty is the fact that we cannot penetrate the mind of God and comprehend why He does what He does. Nevertheless, we have only two choices: Either we deny that He is sovereign, or we affirm that He is Lord over all things.